PS3 Game of the Month: November 2012

Well, there we have it. As hard as it is to conceive, the majority of the holiday 2012 games rush is now done and dusted. By now, most of us have probably bled our wallets dry and made our eyes go square after indulging in some of the year’s finest slices of gaming entertainment – and if you haven’t, then shame on you, as you’re missing out. Predictably, November was mostly chock full of sequels, and you’d be hard pressed to talk about last month without so much as mentioning the Elephant in the Room that is Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Love it or loathe it, Activision’s commercial behemoth clearly isn’t going anywhere, and although overall sales were down on last year’s effort, it’s clear consumers are still lapping it up.

So, aside from Black Ops II – which to be fair, changed things up nicely with the introduction of refined multiplayer and branching storylines – gamers had plenty to tuck into. This was definitely the month of PlayStation 3-exclusives, with LittleBigPlanet Karting, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and Wonderbook: Book of Spells all flying the flag for Sony’s black box, even if their impact on the charts wasn’t exactly anything to write home about. LEGO also made a comeback with the truly excellent LEGO Lord of the Rings, while a series of expansion packs hit both Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 in the shape of Aftermath and Omega, respectively. PlayStation Network also received the final entry in the first season of The Walking Dead, rounding out a breathtaking mini-series.

Meanwhile, Agent 47 polished off his bald features for another stab at the Hitman series with Hitman: Absolution, and we also saw SEGA’s second kart racing effort with Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed – a forgotten gem amidst all the blockbusters if ever there was one. Rounding things off is Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and Konami’s mech-loving actioner Zone of the Enders HD Collection. And yes, we realize Far Cry 3 put in an appearance at the tail end of the month, but since that was only in the U.K., we’ll save that for December.

And that brings us, inexorably, to the task of slapping our Game of the Month accolade on a worthy title. November brought with it a lot of games slugging it out for our cash, but admittedly the quality was up and down all over the place – with some glaring disappointments to boot (Mickey, we’re looking at you). Ultimately however, the PSU.com Team decided to give the award to PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Despite the fact it apparently didn’t resonate with the majority of the buying public, the Superbot brawler is in fact a fantastic game, and certainly differentiates itself from being a mere Super Smash Bros. clone.

Here’s a quick snippet from our review below. Be sure to read the full article here.

"PlayStation All-Stars is a deeply engaging fighter and love letter to PlayStation fans that ultimately triumphs over shallow single-player content and a few design quirks."

Don't agree with our choice? What game do you think deserves the award for November 2012's best title? Let us know in the comments section below.